The Movie
Reworking the acclaimed 2003 British TV miniseries of the same name, State of Play is a star-studded political thriller set and shot in Washington, D.C. Here an intrepid reporter (Russell Crowe) winds up helping/investigating his old college roommate (Ben Affleck), now a prominent politician whose mistress has just committed suicide. Or was she murdered? What does it have to do with the committee probing improper outsourcing of defense jobs? To ruthless mercenaries? And what are their umbrella corporation's plans for the U.S.?
State of Play gets bigger and twistier and dirtier as it unfolds, and there's a certain prurient thrill there I suppose, but much like Duplicity, which shares one of the same screenwriters, hard-driven journalists are not always sympathetic characters, and therefore there's an unfortunate dramatic gap between the audience and the movie, preventing it from truly clicking.
Also check out Joe Lozito's review of State of Play.
The Picture
The 2.35:1 video is better than expected, really making Washington, D.C. look attractive, despite a serial killer running around plugging citizens. You say there's a sequence in a smoky room up on Capitol Hill? No problem. Shadowy scene after shadowy scene? Clean. Brick walls at odd angles? Fuhgeddaboutit! Backgrounds are definitely above average, but not completely immune to video noise, and blacks could be a little less flat, but the level of detail is excellent.
The Sound
Sonically speaking the content here is not always spectacular, but the aggressive DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix does all it can to make it sing. Helicopters appear more than once with a distinctive chopping, while a powerful thunderstorm and the jolt of silenced gunshots wake up the home theater. There's 360-degree activity, with the clicking of camera shutters all around and the requisite noises of a bustling newsroom, and bass is better than ample throughout.
The Extras
The bonuses here are mostly of the next-gen variety, with a pair of Universal's "U-Control" features: Picture-in-Picture which offers intermittent behind-the-scenes video, stills and interviews, plus an interactive look at the Washington, D.C. Locations, with onscreen graphics and historical information. Either or both can be selected via the remote control. There are also three-and-a-half minutes of deleted scenes and the 19-minute "The Making of State of Play" (the usual stuff, in HD). This disc also supports BD-Live access.
Final Thoughts
While genuine thrills are few and far between, the largely by-the-numbers State of Play still manages to serve up an intriguing story about the power of D.C. lobbyists. Picture and sound are fine, and the extras are worth investigating, from the safety of the sofa.
Product Details
- Actors: Russell Crowe, Ben Affleck, Rachel McAdams, Helen Mirren, Robin Wright Penn, Jason Bateman, Jeff Daniels, Michael Berresse, Harry Lennix, Josh Mostel, Michael Weston, Barry Shabaka Henley, Viola Davis
- Director: Kevin Macdonald
- Audio Format/Languages: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (English), DTS 5.1 (Spanish, French)
- Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish, French
- Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
- Number of discs: 1
- Rating: PG-13
- Studio: Universal Studios
- Release Date: September 1, 2009
- Run Time: 127 minutes
- List Price: $39.98
- Extras:
- U-Control:
- Picture-in-Picture
- Washington, D.C. Locations
- "The Making of State of Play"
- Deleted Scenes
- BD-Live
